Former World No 1 turns things around with help from caddie

It was only a 71; not even good enough for the top 50 on a low-scoring day at Royal Birkdale.

But for a while, Rory McIlroy’s first round was looking like the kind of thing you averted your eyes from out of pity.

Through six holes he was five-over – almost as bad as Mark O’Meara had been in the morning storms – and looked almost lost.

But maybe this was the long-awaited tipping point for the former world No 1’s recent struggles.

It took another three holes before a putt finally dropped at the 11th and it still looked like a feeble kind of rally until he overpowered the long 15th and 17th holes, like you’re supposed to do at Birkdale.

The birdie at 18, however, was different. Suddenly he was back to one-over and while not exactly in the tournament, he has momentum for the first time in what seems like months.

The key words came from Rory’s much-criticised caddie, JP Fitzgerald, on the tee at the seventh.

“He said, ‘You’re Rory McIlroy, what are you doing?’,” said Rory, laughing. “We had a little exchange and he sort of reminded me who I was and what I was capable of.”

Rory still needed to get up and down on the seventh to stop from going sixPaul over, but then he started to hit greens and give himself chances.

“I had a little bit of lack of confidence over the last couple of weeks and let that get in my head,” he said. “I felt it because this is a major and I had a little lack of self-belief. But I was able to find it again.

“With the weather we’re expecting tomorrow, I still feel I’m in the golf tournament,” he continued. “If I can go out and play a good quality round of golf in the morning and try to get in the clubhouse somewhere around even par, under par, I’ll still be around for the weekend.”

Rory McIlroy tees off at the fifth.